Selecciones - Webs

246
Part Five Developing the Integrated Marketing Communications Program
Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
V. Developing the
Integrated Marketing
Communications Program
about selling things and that being really creative in
advertising means solving problems and building
interesting brands that people want to buy. He notes:
“It’s time we stopped teaching young creative people
to consider it a victory if the logo in an ad is hard to
find, or if the product doesn’t appear in the commercial
at all. It’s time we stopped using “break through
the clutter” as an excuse to say nothing about what it
is we’re selling or why you should buy it.”
It is unlikely there will ever be peace between the
warring factions as long as there are “rationalists” and
“poets” who make a point of arguing over which
approach works best. Steve Hayden, vice-chairman of
Ogilvy Worldwide, says, “It’s the ad industry’s reflec-
8. Creative Strategy:
Planning and Development
© The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
tion of the essential Platonic/Aristotelian split in the
world, pitting two groups of people against each other
who usually can’t agree which end is up.” However, Nina
Cohen, who has worked on both the agency and the
client side of the business, is bewildered by the intense
opinions held by people on each side and asks, “Aren’t
we all here to do the same thing?” meaning to build
brands and business. While the answer is, of course,
yes, the debate over how to do it is likely to continue.
Sources: Alice Z. Cuneo, “Bartle Bogle Tapped to Cure Levi’s Blues,”
Advertising Age, Jan. 14, 2002, p. 6; Brent Bouchez, “Trophies Are
Meaningless,” Advertising Age, July 30, 2001; Anthony Vagnoni,
“Creative Differences,” Advertising Age, Nov. 17, 1997, pp. 1, 28, 30
that its effective use is just as much a matter of practice in the technique as in the effective
use of any tool.” 17 Young’s model of the creative process contains five steps:
1. Immersion. Gathering raw material and information through background research
and immersing yourself in the problem.
2. Digestion. Taking the information, working it over, and wrestling with it in the mind.
3. Incubation. Putting the problems out of your conscious mind and turning the information
over to the subconscious to do the work.
4. Illumination. The birth of an idea—the “Eureka! I have it!” phenomenon.
5. Reality or verification. Studying the idea to see if it still looks good or solves the
problem; then shaping the idea to practical usefulness.
Young’s process of creativity is similar to a four-step approach outlined much earlier
by English sociologist Graham Wallas:
1. Preparation. Gathering background information needed to solve the problem
through research and study.
2. Incubation. Getting away and letting ideas develop.
3. Illumination. Seeing the light or solution.
4. Verification. Refining and polishing the idea and seeing if it is an appropriate
solution.
Models of the creative process are valuable to those working in the creative area of
advertising, since they offer an organized way to approach an advertising problem.
Preparation or gathering of background information is the first step in the creative
process. As we saw in earlier chapters, the advertiser and agency start by developing a
thorough understanding of the product or service, the target market, and the competition.
They also focus on the role of advertising in the marketing and promotional program.
These models do not say much about how this information will be synthesized and
used by the creative specialist because this part of the process is unique to the individual.
In many ways, it’s what sets apart the great creative minds and strategists in advertising.
However, many agencies are now using a process called account planning to
gather information and help creative specialists as they go through the creative process
of developing advertising.
Account Planning
To facilitate the creative process, many agencies now use account planning, which is
a process that involves conducting research and gathering all relevant information
about a client’s product or service, brand, and consumers in the target audience.
Account planning began in Great Britain during the 1960s and 70s and has spread to
agencies in the United States as well as throughout Europe and Asia. The concept has